2025, what does this have in store for us though? A new car, a new era, how are the drivers going to call back to years gone by and through the best shine on the new generation?

We’ve already seen a few livery reveals with the Eclipse stable running their callback to Vodafone styled Triple Eight cars of the mid naughties. We’ve also seen the brilliant Caterpillar and Ingall liveries sported by 9ine 5ive simsports run in the Phillip Island 500, but what does the Sandown section of the Truforce Endurance Cup bring us?

Cast your eyes over to Beau Albert and Rayner Costello’s 2006 Betta Electrical Triple Eight Falcon (ported over to the Mustang of course) and the wow’s already begin.

Then there’s the entries from Synergy Sim Racing. Brady Baldwin and Jamie Stovold harken back to the Jack Perkins 2007 Commodore that is just eye-catching in all the darkest of colours! Tag onto that the Brenton Hobson and Tom Freer “Gatorade” styled livery that looks to take the mickey out of another Australian Commentator’s words as they’ve been labelled Synergy Energy Drinks.

Again, Sandown is a round that for me is a requirement to stay on the calendar just to trouble the Spotters and Commentators as we try and pick out all of the newly minted cars. Trust me, it's not as easy as you think!

With all the talk of the legacy of the race, let's walk through moments of the last few years and our race winners.

The one that stands out to me (probably because it was my first race commentating this series) was the 2023 Sandown 500. Luke Rosella and Harley Haber were quick and had their run of luck. When the Safety Car came out in sight of home they had a quick choice to make. Defend on old tires, or trust the speed they had been displaying all day to get them through. Fresh tires and a gritty drive to the front showed what these guys had and made for an exciting finish to boot!

2024 gave us the one that got away for Jarrod Filsell and Brodie Kostecki. The driver pairing to watch due to the fact they had (and still do have) the closest times between a driver pairing. Critically they made a mistake on the strategy, when they had to do a driver swap late in the day when fuel didn’t cover the swap. They’d throw the thing over kerbs like a kid being thrown around a rollercoaster! Not to be and Griffin Gardiner and Dylan Birse would show a classical ‘Griff’ drive and just be quick but clean and accurate to take his best result. What about Dylan Rudd, clean drive to P2 and a big swing of points to put pressure on the title. This was so important to his Championship in 2024.

Then back to the original, 2022 Jarrad Filsell’s only successful year in the Enduro’s. Dayne Warren would partner him on the way to utter dominance in the Endurance Cup winning both the 500 and the 1000 that year. Well… Only successful year until 2025.

All of this is very important to remember before the new era of old begins.

What about 2025?

Well our first attempt at 500km around a Melbourne based circuit we’re getting its best display of true Melbourne weather.

Throughout Practice and Qualifying we’re going to see an ever increasing chance of rain. Forget the jumpers, I’d go straight to the weather proof jackets with air temps expected to be roughly 19°C for the bulk of the day. Yeah, right…. I’m sure the locals will tell you that it's likely to be a “Four Seasons in One Day” type event.

The good news for us as race car fans though is that it's going to provide the type of tricky prospect that the actual Bathurst 1000 was this year in reverse. Rain up front, worsening towards the middle and maybe drying off by the end. Likely to be the slowest average speed of any Sandown 500 on the sim to date.

The next factor then becomes fatigue. For the younger denizens of the field they’re likely to be in fine form, but for anyone with a 6am start time for work on Friday is probably going to want to not run the final stints. 

Light rain could see us lose 5-10s worth of pace per lap, heavy into the 15-20s range and all of that changing lap to lap with the grip levels. Tie that in with fuel and driver time management as well as crossover lap times means managing the strategy at the backend of the race becomes brutal. Look to offer yourself some strategy flexibility and running a co driver longer in the middle of the race to open up the option to get off the wets at the crucial time is going to be the key.

Who are my choices to win it? Sorry… I’m going to go with the form guide again and say Filsell/Kostecki. They overcame a strategic error with enough oomph in the car to frazzle James Anderson and Jake Burton. That drive from Phillip Island cannot be ignored and is the biggest statement we’ve seen all year. It’s one thing to launch from pole, lead every lap and win it by a landslide, but to overtake that many cars with a risky strategy call and sit there confidently soaking it in afterwards. Yeah, that grabbed my attention.

The thing is, rain is the real equaliser. An absolute game changer. A monster of a mix up to meter out mayhem.

Friday night who will be tasting victory from the skies? Will the heavens open on a new pairing to write their name into Truforce Endurance Cup folklore?

For me, if the rain does come down, this will be the 500 to remember. See you then!